


Forgiving the Unforgiveable

by Trexi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 13:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20931242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trexi/pseuds/Trexi
Summary: Draco’s curse hits first. Harry’s the one bleeding on the bathroom floor when Snape arrives.





	Forgiving the Unforgiveable

The curse for enemies doesn’t finish getting past my lips.

“_CRUCIO_!” Malfoy casts firsts.

I crash to my knees and cradle my ribs as pain tears through me. A scream rips its way out of my throat. The curse stops. I should keep quiet, but I wasn’t sorted Gryffindor for nothing.

“Is that all you’ve got, Malfoy? Here I thought Death Eaters knew how to throw Unforgivables around a little stronger.”

Malfoy’s grip on his wand tightens. “Shut up! _CRUCIO_!”

The force of the curse knocks me off my knees and back onto the ground. Every instinct in me screams stop, stop, stop, but it’s less than before. Less than Voldemort’s curse in the graveyard, less even than the one just moments ago.

I spit blood on the tiles. “You’ve got to mean it, Malfoy. If you can’t even throw a proper Cruciatus at someone you hate, how are you going to use them against defenceless innocents?”

“Cr-_CRUCIO_!”

Pain tears through my body, but so much less than before. I push myself to my knees through it and glare at Malfoy. His grip on his wand is bone-tight, yet every other part of him is trembling, almost as if he were the one just hit by three Crucios in a row.

“Thought you were raised better than that, Malfoy. Don’t tell me I’m your first Unforgiveable. I could’ve sworn they raised baby Death Eaters on a healthy dose of torturing house elves.”

“Do you want me to keep hurting you?” Malfoy asks, incredulity breaking through his desperation.

“I _want_ Tom No Nose Riddle to go back to the Muggle orphanage he was raised in and stay there. I _want_ my mother, father, and godfather back after they all sacrificed themselves for me. I _want_ this stupid war to end, so we can all just go back to being students instead of fearing for our lives. But I learned a long time ago that I rarely get what I want, and even when I do, I have to fight tooth and nail to keep it.

“Question is, Malfoy: what do _you_ want? Because it sure as hell isn’t to torture me.”

Malfoy screams. “You know nothing! You have no clue, you ignorant Gryffindor! You have friends, allies, and people you can turn to. Me? I have nothing! He’s going to kill me, Potter. He’s going to kill me, and nobody’s going to be there to stop him. Not my family; not my so-called friends; no-one. But if I prove myself by giving him you, then maybe he’ll let my mother live. Maybe he won’t torture her in front of me before killing us both. Maybe he'll be forgiving enough to spare us both, even if it’s just to be killed by your side later on in the war.

I open my arms up. “You have me, so hurry up and make your choice, Malfoy. Unless you’re too much of a coward to take me to Voldemort yourself.”

“_Crucio_.”

The curse fails.

Malfoy tries again, but nothing happens. He glares at his wand, and then me.

“What would your father think?” I ask. “You can’t even cast a little Unforgivable against the Boy-Who-Lived. How are you going to be able to attack defenceless Mug–”

Malfoy punches me.

The bathroom door slams open right as my head slams into the floor, and really, all this ringing cannot be a normal aftereffect of multiple Crucios. I fix up my glasses and blink up at the looming shape glaring down at Malfoy.

“What have you done, you insolent child?” Snape asks Malfoy.

“Sev–”

“Professor,” Snape corrects.

Malfoy flinches.

“Tell me you weren’t idiotic enough to cast the Cruciatus Curse on Potter of all people,” Snape demands.

“He didn’t,” I find myself saying. “Malfoy and I were just roughhousing, and it turns out he’s a lot better at it than me, so he got a lot more hits in.” I wipe my bloody nose with the back of my hand and stumble to my feet. “I don’t think Malfoy even hates me enough to successfully cast an Unforgiveable against me anyway.”

Snape turns his glare on me. “I don’t know what foolish idea you’ve used all your mental capacity to concoct, Potter, but I know you can throw off an Imperius, so don’t think you can start blaming Mr Malfoy for casting that too.”

“We were just roughhousing, sir,” I insist.

Snape looks like he’d rather the chance to curse me with no consequences. “All I have to do is cast a simple spell on Mr Malfoy’s wand, and I’ll know for sure that I’m right. This foolish lying for some reason I’m sure you’d call noble is pointless.”

“If you check his wand, and it turns out you’re right, then Malfoy will be punished, right? Probably expelled, maybe even sent to Azkaban like his dad?” I ask, taking the way Malfoy somehow manages to pale more as a yes. “But if you don’t, and you take the account of the prime witness, and supposed victim, and I tell you that _we were just roughhousing_, then Malfoy can’t be punished for using any Unforgivables, because he didn’t, and I would know, and if he had, why wouldn’t I of all people say as much? Harry Potter would certainly want Draco Malfoy to finally pay for everything he’s done, right? So, really, it’s for the best that you just believe me because _we were just roughhousing_, Professor. Why would I lie about that if Malfoy had just tried to torture me?”

“I know the after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse, Potter!” Snape snaps.

I nod. “_Right_, so you of all people would be able to tell that I haven’t been hit by a Crucio since Voldemort cast two at me during his resurrection party.”

“Twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin,” Snape says. “For fighting like a bunch of uncultured Muggles in the bathroom.”

He turns on his heel and marches to the door. “Oh, and Potter, if I ever catch word that you use this incident to blackmail my godson, I’ll string you up in the dungeons by your intestines and leave you there with a particularly brutal preservation potion that’ll keep you alive for years. You are familiar with the Muggle myth regarding Prometheus and his punishment, yes?”

“What’s there to blackmail about?” I ask. “I get into fights with Malfoy all the time. Nobody would be surprised that he got the upper hand this time.”

Snape just scowls and storms off, his robes billowing behind him like usual.

“Bloody hell,” I mutter, leaning against the wall. “What am I meant to tell Madam Pomphrey?”

Malfoy doesn’t seem to have an answer for that. I’m not even sure he still has the ability to talk, the git.

“Guess I’ll just have to fess up to getting into another fight with the Whomping Willow. Wouldn’t be the first time I lost against it,” I say.

Malfoy is still staring at me like I’ve suddenly started speaking Parseltongue.

“I’m not hissing, am I?” I ask. “It all sounds like English to me, so I really can’t tell the difference. Snape seemed to understand me just fine, so I unless I’ve suddenly switched since he left, or maybe he’s a secret Parselmouth. I don’t think that’d surprise me at this point.”

“Why did you lie?” Malfoy asks, his voice barely a whisper.

I clench my right fist and make my newest scars visible.

Jaw set, I glance away from Malfoy’s shocked expression. “There are worse people in the world than you, Malfoy. The _delightful_ Professor Umbridge taught me that much. And if she’s supported by the Ministry, then it’s hardly a stretch to say that there might be some okay people who’ve gotten sucked into being Death Eaters.” I drop my hand. “Anyway, I better head down to the Hospital Wing. Pomphrey’s probably going to make good on her plan to officially make one of the beds mine, but at least it means not having to put up with Ron’s snoring tonight.”

“I’m–”

“See you around, Malfoy,” I interrupt, not wanting to know whether it was an apology or not.

I’m not quite at that point of understanding and forgiveness, and I really don’t want to end up with more than a broken nose and the aftereffects of multiple Cruciatus Curses. Besides, Malfoy looks like a strong breeze would knock him over right now. It wouldn’t be a fair fight.


End file.
